1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data processing in a port monitor program used for transmitting a print job that is generated to an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Increases in the number of printer functions in office devices including multifunction peripherals and laser beam printers have been taken place in recent years. Basic print functions, such as a color printing function and a duplex printing function, have been generalized and the qualities of the basic print functions have been increasingly improved. At the same time, the office devices have been provided with various value-added print functions.
The value-added print functions include a function, called “Nin1”, of printing multiple pages on one side of a sheet of paper and a staple function of binding multiple printed sheets of paper with a staple. Availability of such functions in the multifunction peripherals and the laser beam printers allows users to represent various images on printed sheets of paper.
Concurrently with the increases in the number of the printer functions in the office devices including multifunction peripherals and laser beam printers, there are demands for management of printed sheets of paper with the object of the cost and the environmental aspect on the introduction of the office devices. A typical request is that the maximum number of sheets of paper be restricted for every user because the costs of consumed sheets of paper and toner are increased with the increasing number of printed sheets of paper.
Some resolutions have been already proposed against the above problems. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-134136 discloses a method of managing each user with his/her ID to restrict the available function, resource, and time for every ID.
The method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-134136 is realized in printers and function management systems, such as a function management apparatus and a user management server, which are connected over networks. If a user of a host computer, which is a print client, instructs printing, the printer driver in the print client transmits information concerning the user of the print client to the function management system. The printer driver acquires information concerning available functions associated with the user from the function management system to determine whether print settings meeting the functions are input by the user. Printing is enabled only if the function management system determines that the print settings meeting the functions are input.
In another resolution against the above problems, a print client transmits information concerning an issuer (the user of the print client) of a print job to a printer that inquires of a function management system about the information concerning available functions to determine whether the printing is enabled on the basis of the result of the inquiry. In this case, there is a problem in a reduction in the convenience because the printer can determine whether the printing is enabled only after the printer has received the print job.
In the method disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-134136, the printer driver inquires of the function management system about the information concerning the available functions and performs processing corresponding to the result of the inquiry. Accordingly, if the printer driver does not have the inquiring and processing function, there is a problem in that it is not possible to manage the available functions.